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Empower - Module 3 - Building Search Strategies

Build Your Search Strategy

Search Strategies

 

Components of a Search Strategy

  • Keywords
  • Search Fields
  • Boolean Operators

 

How You Assemble these Components Depends on

How You Divide Your Research

and

Your Project's Requirements

Simple tasks, like finding movie times, usually only require one Component.

Advanced research usually requires combining multiple Components.

To Build Your Search Strategy:

  1. Pick around 4 of your Keywords that cover around 2 concepts to research.
  2. Choose the Search Fields that work best for each search.
  3. Use Boolean Operators to link the Keywords and Search Fields together.

 

Don't forget Quotation Marks, Truncation, Wildcard, and Nesting

 

Click on the Next Tab to See a Sample Search Strategy!

Example:

A student must find information on female characters in the Shakespearean plays, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It.  In the below series of tables, we break down the components on one of the student's searches.

 

Keywords and Search Strategy Components:

Series of tables breaking down one of the student's searches for the example: The first chosen search field is Keyword (i.e. Any Field), in which the student uses the Boolean Operators, OR & Quotation Marks, and the Keywords, The Taming of the Shrew & As You Like It. The final search phrase the student types into the search field is: Open Quotation Mark, The Taming of the Shrew, Close Quotation Mark, OR, Open Quotation Mark, As You Like It, Close Quotation Mark. The Boolean Operator, AND, is selected to link the first and second search fields together. The second chosen search field is also Keyword (i.e. Any Field), in which the student uses the Boolean Operators, OR & Wildcard, and Keywords; Female, Woman, & Women. The final search phrase the student types into the search field is: Female, OR, W, O, M, Question Mark, N. The Boolean Operator, AND is selected to link the second and third search fields together. The third chosen search field is Subject, in which the student does not utilize any Boolean Operators but does use the Keyword phrase, William Shakespeare. Since this Keyword is a first and last name, the final search phrase the student types into the search field is: Shakespeare, comma, William.

Written out, the student's search described in the tables is:

"The Taming of the Shrew" OR "As You Like It" AND Female OR Wom?n AND Shakespeare, William

 

How the Example appears if typed in the Library Catalog Advanced Search:

Screenshot of the example's search as it would appear in the Library Catalog Advanced Search

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